A&M entered the SEC tourney on a 3-game skid and as the 4 seed. Today they knocked off the #1 seeded Tennessee Lady Vols in a game that was an instant classic. Tennessee senior Taber Spani did her best to single-handedly will the Vols into the final, scoring 33 and adding 8 boards. After hitting a buzzer beater from behind the arc to cut the A&M halftime lead to 2 at 35-33, Spani looked like she was going to bury the Ags by hitting 8 points in the second before the Ags scored at all. Tennessee stretched the lead to 50-40 at the 12:50 mark. Around that point Coach Blair made a move that will not show up in the scoresheet by inserting Tori Scott in for Courtney Williams, who had been marking Spani up until then. Scott's defense was a key part of A&M's raising of the defensive pressure and chipping away at the lead.
The Vols were held without a FG from 12:50 to 5:30. In that span they only added 2 pts on FTs from Meighan Simmons, while the Ags cut the lead to 52-50. The teams traded baskets with the Ags tying it only to have the Vols answer until Bashara Graves turned the ball over, negating what looked like it could have been a bucket and one with a foul on Bone. CWalk gave the Ags the lead on the following possession and now it was the Ags turn to hang onto the lead by trading buckets. Courtney WIlliams baseline J with 34 seconds left broke the final tie. The Ags forced the Vols into a tough shot by Kamiko WIlliams and Bone tipped the rebound all the way to halfcourt to Walker who was fouled by Simmons. CWalk iced the game with two free throws.
Four Aggie starters scored in double digits, with Walker leading the Ags with 18. The Ags didn't match their FG% from Knoxville, but they won the rebounding battle this time, 36-28. The Ags did a great job of frustrating Simmons and Graves. Simmons had 10 points on 4-12 shooting with 4 turnovers. Graves was held to 4 pts and 5 boards. Cierra Burdick, who killed the Ags in Knoxville, was neutralized.
Congrats to Tennessee on a great season. The Ags make the conference finals again in their new home. Now we wait for the winner of Georgia v. Kentucky.